Ahuan is one of the places in Khurasan where, on the 1601 walk to Mashhad, Abbas stayed in a ribat (fort). Click here to see Herzfeld’s plan – though it’s also as clear as can be on the satellite image. The hilltop ‘settlement’ (it’s now really just a petrol station) also has a superb extant …
Everyone knows 999 caravanserais were constructed by Shah Abbas the First . . don’t they? Certainly, very many Iranians will – on the slightest provocation – tell one of the very many variants of the story: most commonly that the Shah thought that the number 999 was so precise that it should be believed, whilst …
Stopping place km from Isfahan Details Dating CVS also called ‘ribat’ Deh Namak 441 17th century/Safavid CVS, inscription panel missing, restored in 1976-8. Second mud brick CVS, built after 1848, now in poor condition (Kleiss 1998 [K]: 85). See details Abdalabad 463 Mud/mudbrick CVS: stylistically of multiple periods including Qajar. ? Lasjird 483 17th century/Safavid …
Shah Abbas is often thought in terms of his luxuriant moustachios. But maybe we should instead be thinking about his eyebrows. In 1595, a renowned poet and boon companion of the Shah, one Mowlana Sa’ni, composed some verses in praise of Abbas, including: Whether it be friend or foe who quaffs the cup / He …
Robert Shirley, portrait before 1628. Wiki image Last week I included van Dyck’s painting of Robert Shirley dressed à la Persane. This week, when I was reading the (relatively new, go read it!) Carpets and Textiles in the Iranian World 1400-1700, I was reminded of another image of him. This is the one that was …
Sefer Muratowicz was an Armenian merchant; sent to Persia by the King of Poland (Sigismund III) to buy tents, carpets, weapons and fine textiles. It was Muratowicz who described (in another posting, here) the greedy Russian ambassador and his party fighting over golden tableware and ripping up expensive textiles. He also tells some great tales …